‘Ah, but this is a knife that can save your prince’s life.’ Suddenly the air itself seemed to close around my hand, leading my fingers to the hilt. ‘Use this knife to take the life of another prince, and I promise you that your prince will live through the battle to take the throne.’
I would have dropped the knife instantly, except the air was still tightly wrapped around my hand, forcing it to clutch the blade. ‘A prince’s life for a prince’s life.’ Zaahir didn’t laugh, but I could tell he was mocking me. A prince’s life. He meant Rahim’s or Jin’s life. They were the only other princes here. ‘Or –’ the air finally stopped gripping my fingers – ‘you can cast the knife down. And maybe he will live, or maybe he won’t. It will be in the hands of fate,’ Zaahir said simply. ‘But I have never known fate to be all that kind, have you?’ I hadn’t, but I didn’t reply.
In the space of a breath, he was standing in front of me instead of beside me, like a flame jumping from one roof to another in a burning city. I staggered to a stop. He was so close that I could see the violent colour of his eyes as he hissed the next words at me. ‘It is a mistake to try to outwit me, daughter of Bahadur. I have been helping you thus far, but I can make things very hard if you don’t release me right now, no matter what you made me promise. You have a confused heart, just like every human. You want too many things. I can turn those things against each other like animals in your chest. I can destroy you from the very inside of your soul.’ He drew away just as quickly as he’d descended on me.
I realised that everyone else ahead of us had stopped, too. We’d reached the mouth of the tunnel. Shazad had paused by the entrance, holding everyone back. But Zaahir didn’t stop walking. The former prisoners moved out of his way as he strode forwards. I trailed behind. Shazad looked at me expectantly as I drew level with her. I didn’t have an easy answer to give her. I didn’t know what Zaahir was up to. He moved past her, out into the open. And I followed.
Ashra’s Wall stood a hundred feet or so from the mouth of the tunnel. And just beyond that, through the shifting light of the wall, I could see the soldiers. There were lines of military tents along the slope of the mountain, supplies stacked between them, and soldiers milling around. But more importantly, I saw the glint of sunlight against metal heads.
Abdals. They had more of them outside the wall. Soldiers, we could fool. Hell, our numbers were good enough that we might even be able to take them in a fight. But not Abdals.
‘Zaahir, wait.’ I could feel my breathing coming ragged now.
He came to a stop, right by Ashra’s Wall. ‘Freedom for freedom, daughter of Bahadur. You made a promise.’ And then his arm lashed out violently towards Ashra’s Wall. But when his hand met it, he didn’t burn.
Instead, the barrier of light shattered.
It reminded me of the glass dome over the Sultan’s chambers, breaking apart into stars. Except these didn’t fall to the ground. Again, Zaahir seemed to draw the light into himself, like a hungry fire swallowing kindling. It was like watching what he had done with the Abdals, only a thousand times greater.
And then, just like that, Ashra’s Wall was gone. No, more than gone. Ashra was dead. That was what he had done. That was how he had granted us our freedom from Eremot. He’d destroyed the soul that had been protecting the entire world from what was inside that mountain.
And now we were left exposed, as from the other side of where the wall had been, a dozen startled soldiers’ faces turned in our direction. And a dozen more blank Abdal faces stared at us.
And then they raised their hands.
Chapter 26
I dived towards the shelter of the tunnel even as a wave of heat and fire poured out of the Abdals, flooding in behind me as people screamed and retreated back into the mountain.
Shazad grabbed me, yanking me in as I searched for my Demdji power, dragging on any dust I could find, trying to shore up the mouth of the tunnel. But whatever strength I’d had I’d used saving Shazad, and my power seemed to slip away, tumbling useless out of my grasp, abandoning me.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw one person burn, turning to dust before the fire abated as quickly as it had come, leaving my skin feeling raw from the heat and my lungs scorched.
‘We should retreat,’ Shazad said, breathless. Behind us, Rahim and Ahmed were trying to return some order to the panicking people in the tunnel. The rebels who had seen Abdals before were more level-headed, but the other newly freed prisoners had never faced anything like this. They were running for anywhere that might be shelter, back into Eremot.
My mind tripped over itself looking for a way through this. We had a few hundred recently freed prisoners in no shape for fighting, a Djinni who had turned our little game on its head, and two worn-out Demdji.
Outside, I could hear the metallic steps of the Abdals moving towards the mouth of the tunnel. Coming to finish us off, forcing us back into the dark of Eremot, where they would pick us off easily.
I traded a look with Shazad and saw the same naked fear on her face. That was when I knew we were in trouble. I’d never seen Shazad run out of ideas before. We were done for. I had got everyone this far only to lose them on the edge of freedom.
And then the metallic footsteps stopped.
I stilled, feeling my heart’s panicked timpani in my chest. I could almost hear it now in the sudden silence. And then a voice from outside, too distant to make out any words. A voice I knew, though it took me a second to place it.
Noorsham.
I was moving before Shazad could stop me, rushing back towards the mouth of the tunnel. I burst out into open air. Zaahir was nowhere to be seen. But there, standing behind the Abdals and the Sultan’s soldiers, was Noorsham. Further behind him I could make out Jin, Sam, Tamid and the twins.
How the hell had they found me?
Ahmed’s compass. My hand drifted to my side, feeling the weight still there. I’d forgotten. It was still in my pocket. I should’ve known better than to think Jin would just wait patiently for me to return. He’d tracked me down once from Sazi, a long time ago. And now he’d done it again. Relief and fear warred inside me. Even if this was the end, at least we were back together. Either we all survived or we all died here.
Noorsham looked terribly vulnerable next to the army of Abdals. He wasn’t clad in bronze armour like they were. He was wearing nothing but simple desert clothes, standing with his hands extended as he had yesterday over the people of Sazi. And he wasn’t wearing the iron shackles I’d put on him either. His power was running free.
I understood what he was about to do a second before the Abdals turned to face him, summoning their own fire against his.
‘No!’ The scream tore out of my throat. But I was too late. Noorsham’s power swelled to meet that of the Abdals even as they flooded the mountain. Man-made stolen Djinni fire rushing to meet Noorsham’s Demdji-given gift of destruction. I ran towards him, knowing there was nothing I could do. No way to stop what was going to happen.
It was as if a new sun were being born.
The explosion bloomed bright and violent, invading everything, even the air around it. It slammed into me like a javelin of heat and light, knocking me down, blinding me. But I could still smell the burning. I could taste blood.
Then, I tasted ash.
I woke violently out of unconsciousness. I couldn’t have been out long. My ears were still ringing with the aftershock of the explosion, my lungs burning. I pushed myself up agonisingly. The pain was nothing, though, compared to the heat still rising from my skin. Even my Demdji side was struggling to fight off this heat. But I found my way to my feet all the same.